Sunday, November 27, 2005

Quebec Pork: Time To Go Cold Turkey

[...]The Liberals will be hoping the plan gives them a boost in Quebec, which has a significant presence in the aerospace industry.

Several companies, including Bombardier Inc. and Pratt & Whitney, are major employers in the province.

Angry takes a rip at the Liberals for 'electoral extortion'. While I agree, I have a different take on the matter.

How independent can an independent Quebec be if major parts of it's economy depend on a Canadian Federal life-support system? If I were leading the BQ at this moment, I would be screaming from the rooftops, explaining to the people of Quebec how being suckered in by Liberal pork continues to put their dream of independence just beyond their fingertips.

It appears that the Liberals have put all their eggs in the Quebec basket. Once the people of Quebec wake up, realize that their industry must be market-driven, competitive and self-sufficient in order to support a vibrant independent nation, it will become immune to Liberal promises to pork and threats to unpork.

Ultimately, it will take an act of economic courage for Quebec to break the current dynamic that paralyzes this country and thwarts its own dream of independence - but then, through history, hasn't nation building always required profound courage to deviate from the status quo? Answering the Liberal's Siren call this election, again, will perpetuate the cynicism held by non-Quebec Canadians towards Quebec separatism: the call for independence is merely a feint, a gimmick, a perpetual threat designed to do nothing more than keep open the sluices of cash from ROC to support their socialist lifestyle, and should not be taken seriously. Indeed, it could well be the inspiration for a Quebec independence movement outside La Belle Province: a movement to expel the extortionist from our ranks.

While the Liberal liberal porking of Quebec may have been a strategy wherein historically all stakeholders could take comfort, globalization of the economy has changed the playing field. Building-in inefficiencies through programmatic subsidization does nobody a favor today: the federalists encumber with inefficiency and endanger the economic health and competitiveness our overall society by paying this extortion; separatists are thwarted by the continual trumping of their agenda by dealers of subsidy crack.